Haunting History of Fort Hood, Texas~*~LadyShaman~*~

I was reminded some research I did on fort hood texas by a Fellow USMers Post in the mysterious section. I experienced much paranormal activities going on in the house I lived on in Fort Hood and I am not the only one who has had these experiences. One story about Fort Hood can be found here:

Http://www.Castleofspirits.com/army.html

I have also found much information about the history of Fort Hood at this address: https://osiris.cso.uiuc.edu/denix/Public/ES-Programs/Conservation/Legacy/Sacred/section6.html

I am going to cut and paste some of what is in the artical about the land of Fort hood. Here it Goes:

Fort Hood

The Fort Hood site was selected by the U.S. Army on January 10, 1942 as the home of its new Tank Destroyer Technical and Firing Center (Faulk and Faulk 1990). The Army acquired the land needed for the post by purchase and immediate dispossession of landowners under the Second War Powers Act that gave the Secretary of War the power to take property for war purposes. Construction of South Camp Hood began in 1942 and North Camp Hood, located 17 miles to the north, was established soon thereafter. A U.S. Air Force Base and airfield were operated west of Camp Hood by the Air Force from 1947 to 1952.

South Camp Hood was renamed Fort Hood in 1951, and North Camp Hood became North Fort Hood. North Fort Hood is presently used for the training of Army Reserve and National Guard units. The Air Force facilities were run by the Army from 1952 until 1969 and became part of Fort Hood in 1969. Fort Hood now occupies 339 square miles in central Texas midway between Waco and Austin.

Present Relationship

Focus of Native American Concerns at Fort Hood

The present relationship between the U.S. Army at Fort Hood and Native American people regarding cultural resources takes place primarily through the Directorate of Engineering and Housing (DEH) and began in 1989 when a new post archaeologist was hired. One of the archaeologist's early tasks was to seek to repatriate human remains to Native Americans. At the time there was no U.S. Federal law governing the treatment of the remains. The majority of the remains had come from an individual who discovered a badly looted site on private land near Fort Hood. The individual had collected the remains and brought them to the installation where they had been stored in the archaeology laboratory. The Director of Engineering and Housing contacted the state archaeologist who at the time had a committee working with the Texas Indian Affairs Commission to draft legislation regarding human burials (Harris 1989). The archaeologist requested advice about the proper disposition of the remains and offered to turn them over to any Native American group deemed appropriate. However, the Texas Indian Affairs Commission was abolished in 1989, and no state law regarding human remains was ever passed.

On February 20, 1990, an archaeological survey party reported a potentially important discovery in an environmental set-aside area on North Fort Hood (Jackson 1990). Environmental set-aside areas are defined in Fort Hood's cultural resource management plan (Jackson 1994:6). The site was visited by the post archaeologist and archaeologists from Texas A&M University and the Texas SHPO. The discovery was identified as the Leon River Medicine Wheel, and the post archaeologist sought to have the site protected so that further studies and site visits would be possible.

Origin of the Relationship

In April 1990, an American Indian who worked in civil service at Fort Hood was sent to the archaeologist to inquire if he could be of any assistance with Earth Day celebrations that year. The archaeologist told that individual about the human remains and requested his help. These two people, the post attorney, and other interested persons met several times. In addition, meetings with representatives from tribes with prehistoric and historic ties to the region were held. One conclusion of those meetings was that virtually all the tribes buried their people where they died and that the American Indians would prefer that any human remains be reburied as close as possible to the place from which they came. Ninety-five percent of the land in Texas is under private ownership, so reburial at the place of origin was perceived to be very problematic. As a result, the participants decided to pursue the creation of a cemetery for reburial purposes. The post archaeologist sent out letters to a dozen tribal governments and American Indian groups that had prehistoric or historic ties to the area informing them of the interest in creating a cemetery and asking if they wanted to claim the human remains. The archaeologist received no responses to those letters.

Recognizing that contact with the tribes would require more than a letter, personnel from Fort Hood's DEH began to work with AIREC members who were living and working in central Texas. Through an informal agreement, members of AIREC's Reburial Committee, including the individual working on the post, began contacting tribal governments by fax and phone to request their assistance with the reburial cemetery. AIREC members contacted many tribes and were unable to interest any tribe in becoming involved in the project. Finally, because there was some indication that the remains from the looted site included Comanche youths, the Comanche tribal government put an AIREC representative in touch with members of the Comanche Cemetery Committee. The committee members supported the creation of a reburial cemetery at Fort Hood and requested that a site be chosen that had not been vandalized and that could be protected from vandals (McGinnis 1991).

The Leon River Medicine Wheel was mapped by participants in Texas A&M University's archaeological field school during the summer of 1990 (Carlson 1993). Medicine wheels are sacred sites traditionally of Northern Plains origin that are significant to many Native Americans today. They are governed by the American Indian Religious Freedom Act (AIRFA; see Chapter One). During that same field school, the participants excavated a rockshelter that included the remains of six persons. Those remains were stored at Texas A&M University.

The Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act (NAGPRA) was passed on November 16, 1990. This Act includes restrictions on the excavation of Native American burials. In order to be in compliance with this Act, the post archaeologist instituted a policy prohibiting the disturbance of human remains that might be uncovered during excavations on the post. That policy was included in the Fort Hood's Cultural Resources Management Plan and archaeological services contract (Jackson 1994). By that time, a small amount of bone from a rockshelter site on Army Corps of Engineers land near Lake Belton had been added to Fort Hood's collection of human remains.

Establishment of the Reburial Cemetery

The Directorate of Environment and Housing (DEH) at Fort Hood proceeded with the plans for a reburial cemetery on the post (McGinnis 1991). The Comanche tribal government paid for elders from the Comanche Cemetery Committee to travel to Fort Hood. Together with the post archaeologist and members of AIREC's Reburial Committee, those individuals visited North Fort Hood to identify a suitable site for the cemetery location. A site was selected by the Comanche representatives and approved by the Comanche Tribal Council. The Native Americans also visited the Medicine Wheel site during that trip, and they believed that it was good for the cemetery site to be near the Medicine Wheel. No recommendations were made regarding the Medicine Wheel at that time.

The use of installation land for a cemetery would preclude future use of the area and required a formal agreement for the Army to provide an appropriate location for the cemetery. In June 1991, the DEH sought official approval for the dedication of five acres of land within the 55 acre parcel containing the Medicine Wheel for a reburial cemetery (McGinnis 1991). A Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) was drawn up among the Comanche Tribal Council, AIREC, and the U.S. Army at Fort Hood (see Appendix H). The agreement set aside five acres of land for the purpose of the appropriate reburial of human remains and stipulates that the Army is obligated under the law to protect and maintain the reburial site, regardless of the status of the formal agreement (see Appendix H). The Army retains formal ownership of the lands to ensure that the reburial site is protected under Federal statute. The agreement also permits the Comanche and other Native American groups to use the designated site for the interment of repatriated human remains from other locations and specifies that access to the cemetery will be afforded to the Native American groups. The MOU also allows the Comanche Tribe and AIREC to authorize individuals to visit the Medicine Wheel site. The Army retains the authority to exclude or eject visitors at its discretion. Soon after the agreement was signed, Native Americans began to visit the Medicine Wheel regularly to pray and leave prayer bundles.

This is just some of the information from that site. If you are interested, follow the link to know more about it :) Peace & Love~*~LadySHaman~*~

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